City Council Divided Along Racial Lines In Gun-Sentencing Debate

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has touched a nerve with his demand for a mandatory minimum, three-year sentence for gun crimes with a requirement that defendants serve 85 percent of their sentences.

That much was obvious Wednesday when a City Council bitterly divided along racial lines went on record urging the Illinois General Assembly to impose stiffer sentences for gun crimes.

White aldermen were all for the bill championed by Emanuel and Police Supt. Garry McCarthy.

African-American aldermen had such reservations, they threatened to send the resolution back to committee. They argued that mandatory minimum sentences failed miserably in the war on drugs and a similar approach to gun crimes would result in more of the same.

This can’t be a racial thing people. Kids are dying. I couldn’t care less if the drug dealers killed each other. The thing is, innocents are getting hurt. Children while they sleep and are at play. You need to first, clear the prisons of the non-violent inmates. Child support, minor pot possession, probation violations. Then you need to stick it to the gun cases. Keep them in longer. Rehab them while they are in. Find the guns on the streets and hit the suppliers hard.